1.5 世世代代的盟約 The Covenant for Generations

當上帝與亞伯拉罕立約時，祂的意思是要亞伯拉罕「世世代代的後裔」堅立這個約。 神要成為亞伯拉罕、以撒和雅各的神。 上帝不但要成為我們的上帝，也要成為我們孩子的上帝。 不幸的是，許多基督徒看不到這一點：我們經常忙於我們的工作，甚至忙於教會的服事，以至於我們無意中將我們的孩子獻給了世界。 研究顯示，美國這個建立在基督教原則的國家正在快速地失去她的年輕一代。

教會需要直接關注鼓勵和裝備父母承擔他們的責任，而不是單單為他們的孩子提供活動。 COVID-19 是上帝給教會的警訊：讓我們停止習以為常的節目，而是激勵父母將聖約傳給我們的下一代。 正如《創世記》18 章 19 節明確指出，上帝揀選亞伯拉罕「為要叫他命令他的子孫和後代家屬遵行耶和華的道，秉公行義，使耶和華所應許亞伯拉罕的話都實現了。 」

地方教會是世界的希望。… 教會有責任呼召夫婦，父母和祖父母來創造敬畏上帝的家。 只有這樣，我們才能看到衰落的世代信仰轉變的潮流。

從家開始 It Starts at Home

願我們的教會和父母盡一切努力將聖約傳遞給我們的下一代！ 當我們這樣做時，除了讓下一代不被世界擄去之外，我們還將體驗到驚人的祝福。

禱告：親愛的神，願祢讓教會和基督徒父母明白，祢的約是為世世代代的，而不是只為一代人，好讓每一代人都能將約傳給下一代。 奉耶穌的名，阿們！

When God made a covenant with Abraham, He meant for that covenant to be kept with Abraham’s “offspring after [him] throughout their generations.” God desired to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God desires to be our God and the God of our children as well. Unfortunately, many Christians fail to see this: we are often so busy with our work and even with church programs that we unintentionally sacrifice our children to the world. Research shows that America, a nation founded upon Christian principles, has been losing her younger generations.

Churches need to focus directly on encouraging and equipping parents to take on their responsibility instead of essentially providing activities for their children. COVID-19 is God’s message to our churches to stop simply running programs and rather to compel parents to pass the covenant onto our next generation. As Genesis 18:19 clearly states, God chose Abraham “that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

The local church is the hope of the world… The church’s responsibility is to call couples, parents, and grandparents to create God-honoring homes. Only then will we see the tide turn on declining generational faith transference.

It Starts at Home

May our churches and parents to put all our efforts towards passing the covenant onto our next generation! We will experience amazing blessings when we do so, besides keeping the next generation from being taken by the world.

Prayer: Dear God, may You let the churches and Christian parents understand that Your covenant is for the generations, not just for one generation, so that each generation can pass the covenant onto the next generation. In Jesus’ name, Amen!